CHAP. XXIV.] OF TONGARIRO. 349 



visible, in consequence of the mist which always co- 

 vered the upper regions. I several times accused 

 the natives of leading me astray, as I could not 

 make out the direction in which we were going, as 

 compared with that of the peak as I had observed 

 it from Taupo. About four o'clock we arrived at 

 the junction of two considerable watercourses, 

 where my guides said we must stop, and, as I could 

 not see any vestige of wood anywhere else, I agreed. 

 After we had been there about half an hour, the 

 clouds rolled out of the upper end of the valley 

 where we were, and I saw that the cone was close 

 to us, and then found that this, if any, was the 

 proper place to ascend, which the natives still main- 

 tained was impossible. The trees which grew here 

 were small stunted coniferous or taxaceous and 

 composite ones. There were none except on the 

 sides of the watercourse, and they did not lift their 

 heads above the level of the top of the bank on which 

 they grew. The stream which runs here down from 

 the mountain is, I have no doubt (from observations 

 I made afterwards, compared with what I observed 

 at the time of the general direction of the country), 

 the one called the Waipa, 1 or western branch of 

 the Waikato. It is here a noisy mountain-torrent, 

 about four feet deep. I regret that I did not ask 



1 Mr. Bidwill is here mistaken ; the Waipa has its source at 

 some distance from the Tongariro, to the north-west of it, in a 

 range of hills called Rangitoto. What he saw was the Wanganui, 

 which falls into Cook's Straits. 



